Exotic Meats: Crikey! It’s a Crocodile!
For the Exotic meat blog, I found an online retailer that ships to Canada called ‘BearBrook Game Meats Inc’. They stock a large variety of meats from beef and chicken to more exotic choices such as buffalo and ostrich.
The one that stood out to me most was crocodile fillets, available for $59.99 per kg. Out of their selection I chose crocodile because I've never eaten or heard of it being used in a dish so I wanted to research it a bit more and see if I would want to cook with it one day.
Crocodiles are large reptiles residing in tropical climates such as Australia, Asia, Africa and The Americas. They belong to the Crocodilia family which also include caimans, gharials, and alligators. What's more interesting about them is that they swallow rocks to help them digest their food and can survive for months without eating due to their slow metabolism.
On the BearBrook website there is no specification for where the cut of meat is from, but most typically butchers will cut from the tail section or tenderloin to make steaks and fillets.
Many cooking blogs recommend cooking crocodiles similarly to steak, but it is also suggested to cook the crocodile to 165f internally in case of the risk of salmonella or trichinosis. People also complain about how easy it is to over cook and make it too tough since most of the cuts do not have a lot of intramuscular fat.
Whenever I think of crocodiles the first place my brain goes to is Florida. I'm going to do my best to make a recipe using a poaching technique and use some popular Florida flavours as well.
Poached crocodile in cold orange yogurt sauce with spicy kumquat chutney
Trim any large pieces of fat from the fillet. In a satoire, bring chicken stock to a boil, then reduce to a simmer
Add bay leaf, pepper corns, and kumquat juice.
Place the fillets in the stock, let simmer until internal temp reaches 155f and remove from stock.
1)combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix
2)taste and adjust for seasoning and consistency
2 kumquats, quartered lengthwise, seeded
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground star anise
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon aniseed, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1)combine all ingredients in a pan and simmer until kumquat skins are tender and the mixture thickens.
(if you find the mixture to be too thin and you dont have time to let it reduce, add 1tsp cornstarch to ¼ cup of water and add to the mixture)
